Tsunami victims mob Malaysian PM, demand quick aid

Hundreds of irate victims of the tsunami disaster which killed 66 people in Malaysia besieged Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Thursday and demanded quick aid to rebuild their shattered lives.

Local villagers swarmed around Mr Abdullah as he visited Tanjung Tokong, one of the areas badly-hit by the killer tidal waves on the northern resort island of Penang., complaining that nothing had been done to alleviate their suffering.

A stunned Mr Abdullah replied: "We'll do it quickly".

The Government has said residents with damaged houses would get 2,000 ringgit ($A678) while those whose houses were destroyed would get 5,000 ringgit.

Fishermen who lost their boats would get up to 3,000 ringgit.

Earlier Mr Abdullah told victims at a fishing village in Teluk Kumbar, south of Penang, that the Government would ensure those affected by the tsunami were able to return to their normal lives.

"Our priority is to continue to work hard and to do whatever that is good so that the situation returns to normal," he said.

Tanjung Tokong resident Normah Ibrahim, 58, said: "We have not received any financial aid, we don't know if we can ever get any".

Pointing to her house nearby she said: "Look, everything has been destroyed and washed away. Even my shop was completely flattened. I have no source of income."

Earlier former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim criticised the Government for delays in handing out aid to victims.

"Give out compensation quickly. This is taking far too long, the Government must be proactive," Anwar told AFP after visiting villages in Penang, which recorded the highest number of deaths.

The former finance minister said priority must given to resettling people who lost their homes.

The Indonesian island of Sumatra, which bore the brunt of the Sunday's tidal waves sparked by a massive earthquake off its west coast, protected most of Malaysia's beaches from the full force of the tsunamis.

It's a fundamental human yearning to be a part of something bigger than one's self, and maybe that's what drove my mate Ash to die, far from home, in a bloody foreign war against Islamic State, writes C August Elliott.